This film takes a wry look at America's nouveau riche: brewers, distillers and well-fed inventors of such wonders as paper clips and hatpins with a hump, while another segment of society looked beyond America for their wealth: fueling revolt in foreign lands (presumably with a payback in mind).

Watching this film is recommended for two reasons, at least: seeing Douglas Fairbanks's remarkable athleticism and becoming curious about "filibusters," which are not the senatorial type, but are "freebooters," who were looking to extend U.S. imperialism without U.S. sanction.

I am amazed at Fairbanks's easy athleticism, from leaping fences to hand-over-hand rope-climbing to 10-foot leaps. He makes the follow-on swashbucklers of the '30s and '40s look like pikers.

The film doesn't provide any background for these "filibusters," but we gather that they were looking to foment rebellion in Mexico during WWI. (I was moved to do some quick Internet "research" into freebooting during WWI, but I didn't find much.)